Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-28

the door for great fraud to be
practice on the people of this
State under the color of law.
Furthermore, we call the attention Of
the County Clerk to the law requiring
the Public Administrator to settle with
him the first Monday of each month.
We find that this law has been entirely
disregarded.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND sHERRIFF's OF
FICE.
We have examined the books ol
these officers and found them correct,
and this Grand Jury hereby returns
thanks to both of these officers for all
assistance rendered this Grand jury
by prompt attendance and all the ac-
commodations to the committees In
order to obtain the knowledge they
required.
COUNTY TAX COLLECTORS OFFICE.
We have examined the books of that
office and found FL Hammond short
$l2, ,441.93. A large portion of that
sum could have been saved had the
Auditor complied with his duties.
The present incumbent's office has
also been examined and Il slight error
has been discovered, which was caused,
perhaps, by his not being familiar with
the points in law directing the man.
agement of his Office.
coRoNER's OFFICE.
The books of that officer are correct,
except the ommission of the material
portion of the jury's verdict, to-wit
Each iury's verdict ought to be signed
by the foreman of the jury and so
copied in his book.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR.
The books of that officer are not fit
to be reported on, and no deposit of
any amount in the County Treasury,
as required by law, has been made
till after examination by the Grand
Jury.
CRIME AT SANTA MONICA.
The affairs in Santa Monica, whi, h
have been so much complained of, we
investigated and found that the people
of that municipality have been very
unfortunate in their selection of town
officers, especially the City Attorney.
No harmony exists among the various
officers, which is very detrimental to
the tax-paying community.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
We inquired into the cause of SO
many robberies that are committed in
the county and city of Los Angeles,
and why the robbers were so seldom
caught, and found a most horrible
state of affairs and no written law to
punish some of the parties. Fences,
or harborers of thieves, exist, who
have full knowledge of those robberies
and who protect the thieves. The
keeper of one notorious den has
twenty-five men as accomplices, whom
he protects, and when a robbery is
committed and reported, the Chief
of Police, and on some occasions cer-
tain favored policemen or constables,
repair at once to this den and re.
ceive the assurance that the plunder
has been seen, and the keeper of the
den or fence can be hired for money
consideration guaranteed by written
order from police headquarters to see
that a portion of the plunder is re-
turned; and this business has
been successfully carried on for
nearly two years and the money has
been paid to the proprietor of the den
by the police officers, in some cases
after they had possession of the stolen
property The Police Commissioners
must have very lax notions to permit
the force under their control to be a
party to this scandal for long period.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Protection to life and property from
fire. The late fire near Motifs Hall
when concert was held there sug-
gested to the jury the necessity of call
ing the attention of the city authorities
to the importance of having the door
ways of public buildings open both in
wardly and outwardly and in no case
inwardly only; also, the main aisles
and passage-ways should be kept free
and the entrances and stairways should
be at least eight feet wide aud should
be placed at both ends of long build
ings OF two or more stories. Further
more, we find Aurora street, near the
s. P. R. r. depot, dangerous to the
free use by the inhabitants, but at the
assurance of Superintendent Hewitt
that the company will abate the
nuisance at once no further action
has been taken, but we hold that the
city authorities should insist that this
same nuisance shall be abated or else
in case of any serious accident they
will be liable before another grand
jury to the charge of criminal neglect
and possibly responsible for damages
for loss of property or life.
County Auditor-The books of this
officer are kept in an imperfect manner
The lack of cooperation by Supervi-
sors and County Assessor causes public
service great loss and confusion, etc.
Further details on several matters
investigated by this grand jury we re.
fer Your Honor to reports of sub-com.
mittees of this body, and also to re.
ports of the expert, and which are
hereby made part of the same.
The question of $245 900 bonds voted
by the city stands as follows: Only
$i9O, 900 were issued and disposed of
We found eight indictments, all Of
which is respectfully submitted.
j. Z. McCoMAs, Foreman.
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ROADS.
We find upon examination that very
few road-masters or overseers have
proper knowledge of the law govern.
ing their Office or the ability to per-
form the duties of the same. We find
that said overseers have worked some
one or two special roads in their dis.
tricts and have expended all theil
money on said roads to the neglect oi
other roads of equal merit. We find
that some of said road-masters have
wilfully neglected to repair roads and
bridges after their attention had been
repeatedly called to their bad condi.
ton. With few exceptions we find
that road overseers have kept no cor
rect books, have squandered large
sums for inadequate labor. We find
that the Board Of Supervisors have
failed in the proper management OF
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